Responding to the call from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in protest against the alleged manhandling of a doctor in Tirupati by a mob following the death of a girl patient on Friday, the out-patient services were stopped at all private hospitals and nursing homes on Saturday, while the medical and paramedical staff observed a black badge protest all over Chittoor district.
Addressing a press meet, the Indian Medical Association (Tirupati region) president P. Ravi Raju condemned the attack on the doctor at a private hospital. He said that as per the protest call given by the IMA, all the member hospitals had stayed away from rendering OP services, while the government doctors had also extended their cooperation.
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A three-year-old girl breathed her last while undergoing treatment, which led to a mob attack on a doctor and damage to hospital property.
Taking law into hands
The IMA functionary said that the aggrieved family members or relatives in case of any casualty should report their grievance to the higher medical authorities or approach the police and legal systems. “Instead, the mobs are resorting to vandalism and physical assaults on not only private doctors but also on government medical officers, besides damaging the property of the hospitals, despite there being clear laws and provision of non-bailable cases against acts of vandalism,” Dr. Ravi Raju said.
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The IMA president said that a couple of months ago, a mob attack took place on a lady medical officer at a government hospital in KV Palle mandal for preventing a male family member to be present while conducting the medical check-up of a girl patient. “The medical fraternity in several areas in the district is in fear of such attacks following the recent incidents,” he said.
He said that an appeal would be made to the District Collector to look into the grievances of the medical fraternity, particularly the problems faced by the women staff at hospitals in remote areas.